


Remembered in the Stars

by Unforth



Series: Tumblr Ficlets: Supernatural [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Astronomy, Canon Compliant, Greek Mythology - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 08:49:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10681875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforth/pseuds/Unforth
Summary: Tumblr ficlet written to the prompt: Dean can spend all day listening to Cas talk about the past or interesting trivia he knows about anything and everything; his favourite subject to talk about with Cas though, is stars. Cas knows the names to a lot of constellations and facts about the birth of stars, which Dean already knows (Sam's told him) but he pretends not to just so he can listen to Cas speak.





	Remembered in the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> A couple days the last few weeks, I've taken prompts for short fics and written and posted them on Tumblr. I wanted to post them on AO3 as well but have been considering how best to do so. A quick survey of my subscribers and followers suggests that people would prefer if I post them all as individual stories and put them in a series together instead of as multiple chapters on the same file or any other of several options, so that's what I'm doing.
> 
> Please note that I generally do not take "out of nowhere" prompts, cause I don't have time, but I will sometimes ask people to send me ideas and I'll write them in the order I receive them. 
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr at [unforth-ninawaters](unforth-ninawaters.tumblr.com).
> 
> Make sure you read the prompt! 
> 
> [~original post~](http://unforth-ninawaters.tumblr.com/post/159792652088/dean-can-spend-all-day-listening-to-cas-talk-about)
> 
> Prompt, from anonymous:  
> Dean can spend all day listening to Cas talk about the past or interesting trivia he knows about anything and everything; his favourite subject to talk about with Cas though, is stars. Cas knows the names to a lot of constellations and facts about the birth of stars, which Dean already knows (Sam's told him) but he pretends not to just so he can listen to Cas speak.

“What about that one, Cas?” Dean recognized the three stars that formed the line of Orion’s belt, but couldn’t recall what Sam had told him about the surrounding stars. The night was stunningly clear; something that for all Dean knew was fricken pixie dust made a pinkish cloud glowed just beneath the belt; a brilliantly bright star - maybe a planet? - shone beneath. Nearby, the Milky Way made a cloud across the cosmos. 

“Orion,” Castiel explained. “The huntsman. I always feel bad for him; he irked Zeus, and his punishment was not only to be cast into the stars but to be forgotten. If someone could go back in time and tell Jason that someday he’d be infinitely more famous and better known than Orion, that children would speak of the Argo in their history classes, he’d have scoffed. Orion was…Orion was…” Castiel trailed off, frowning. “I’m sorry, my knowledge of popular culture is failing to produce an appropriate parallel.”

It was easy to forget, sometimes, that before he lost his grace - before he sacrificed his grace - Castiel moved among the stars as easily as Dean walked across a grassy field. It was awe-inspiring, the moreso because Castiel acted like it was utterly ordinary.

“Macaulay Culkin,” Dean suggested. Castiel gave him a blank stare. “Super popular kid actor when I was a teen, now no one knows who he is.”

“That…doesn’t sound quite right,” said Castiel. “It’s not…” He shook his head, and Dean turned to him, tore his eyes from the beautiful view to the even more beautiful view of the oh-so-angellic, oh-so-human man lying beside him. “That’s not really him - Orion, not Macaulay Culkin - in the stars, of course, at least no exactly. Zeus scattered him to his component atoms and sent those atoms into space, and in so doing rearranged those particular stars into that configuration specifically to form that view on earth for as long as possible - a few tens of thousands of years at least. It was meant both as a punishment and as a reward. Immortality, for the mortal hunter who never succeeded in his quest for immortality. As long as men remember the name of that constellation, as long as they see strong shoulders in the cast of Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, mighty knees in the glow of Saiph and Rigel, a belt on wide hips made of Alnitak, Mintaka and Alnilam, than Orion is never truly forgotten.”

Dean laughed. “Woah, kinda sound like a fan yourself, Cas. Why not revive the memory? Tell Orion’s story to the masses?”

Castiel shook his head, expression troubled. “But the greatest gift - Orion was unable to sire children, which was part of his tragedy. The bulk of Orion’s remains seeded the Orion Nebula, though, and so though the man himself could never be a father, new stars, and new planets, and eventually new life, will spawn from his remains. He…” Castiel shot Dean another unreadable look. “He deserved better.”

“Cas…?” There was an overlong, awkward pause. “Uh…is the pink thing the nebula?”

The silence stretched out.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to, I dunno, give you ancient Greek ‘feels’ or something, but I–”

“You deserved better,” Castiel interrupted sadly.

“Huh?”

“Orion reminds me of you,” said Castiel, staring up toward the sky with an abstracted expression. “He saved the world and though he was honored for it in his lifetime, he was forgotten afterwards, punished to pass from men’s memories, his deeds credited to others or unremarked on at all. Orion reminds me of you, Dean.”

“Hey, man, it’s all good.”

“It’s…it’s not.” Threading their fingers together, Castiel rolled over. Starlight played through his eyes like light through the facets of a gemstone, and Dean could only stare. “I will remember you, Dean Winchester. No matter what happens, no matter what stars we someday become, I will always, always remember you.”

Tears filled Dean’s eyes, made him feel ridiculous, but he could only swallow dryly. “Cas, I…”

“Always, Dean.”

“Thank you.” Dean blinked away the moisture in his eyes. Just a passing breeze. Cas’ hand wasn’t actually trembling in his. Cas wasn’t actually looking at him as if Dean held the cosmos in his meager, human hands. “Thank you, Castiel. I’ll remember you, too.”

“I know you will.”


End file.
